Guardian Angels
by Molly Cathers
Summary: The flock gets captured and Angel is the only one left. She runs for her life and blames herself for what happened to the flock. But soon she meets the Cullens and has to toughen up in order to save the ones she loves.
1. Captured

1. Captured Angel POV

I flapped my wings violently, trying to stay afloat as my heart sank in my chest. Tears streamed from my eyes and all I wanted to do was crawl into Max's arms and cry.

But I couldn't because she was gone with everyone else. They had captured Max and the rest of the flock and taken them away in a blue van without a license plate.

I had tried to follow but the Flyboys came after me. They had guns and I'm SO not bulletproof. They had followed me for hours, but somehow I managed to get away.

Now the van was long gone and the tracks were washed away from the rain. I was cold, wet, and dirty. I was hungry and tired. But most of all I was alone. I had nowhere to go and no one to turn to.

I had no idea where Max was. I had no clue where anyone was. I had no home, no family.

I dropped to a nearby tree and landed clumsily. I held on to the branch and sobbed for what could have been minutes or hours.

Finally, I had no more tears to shed and I could think clearly again. I needed to find help from somewhere. Fang's blog? I could try, but I doubted I would get much information and I didn't have Fang's password. If Nudge was here…but Nudge wasn't here and I wasn't going to start on that. I needed to be brave.

But how could I be? It had all been my fault in the first place. If I hadn't begged Max to take me to the concert in Seattle, if I hadn't used the Bambi eyes to make them say yes, then they would still be here.

Get it together Angel. Stop being a baby! Max has saved your butt so many times; something had to rub off on you.

I tried to think of some sort of plan. Maybe Fang's blog wasn't such a bad idea. I could talk to the kids and find out if they knew anything about where the flock might be. I wouldn't tell any of them where I was or where I was going because that would just lead them to me.

I realized then that I didn't know who had taken the flock. It could have been the School or even Itex.

But then it could have been anybody that wanted to use us for bad things. I shivered just thinking about what they could be doing to the flock right now.

And they would all blame me because it was, of course, entirely my fault. I had been the one to suggest it. I had been the one to convince Max to let us go. And it was me who had wanted to get closer to the stage. If I hadn't gotten closer and gotten lost in the crowd, we could have been out of there and flying away before the Flyboys could get anywhere near us.

But _no._ I had to _insist_ on getting closer to the stage. I had to let go of Max's hand and push my way through, even though I _knew_ it was a bad idea. I had to choose _then_ to be rebellious.

Stop it Angel you don't have time for this. You need to come up with a plan and find out who took your flock, where they are, what they are doing and why, how to get the flock out, and when it would be the right time to strike.

I shook my head. I couldn't think straight on an empty stomach. I needed to find some food. I balanced on the branch for a moment and then pushed off into the sky. I flew above the trees and raced over the forest, looking for an empty house where I could hopefully get some food.

Then I saw one. A three story white house with one side made entirely of glass. I flew around it a few times and looked for an open window, and when I found none, I settled for breaking in through the front door. It's a good thing Iggy taught me how to pick locks when we were living with Anne.

I pulled the pick out of my loosely bound bun and quickly set to my task. It took only and minute to unlock and then I went inside.

Everything was white from the walls to the couch to the floor to the piano. But their designer house held no interest for me. I wanted the food. I rushed to the kitchen and opened the fridge, only to find that there was none.

What kind of house had a fridge and a fully furnished house and kitchen, but no food? Had someone raided them before I got here? If so, then why was the place spotless? Or was this like a summer getaway for the family? Maybe they cleaned it out for the winter and then came back and furnished it in the summer?

I sighed. This was just my luck. Find the perfect house to break into and steal food from, only to find that there's no food.

I perked up. Maybe I could get some use from this after all. I ran up the stairs and found a fully furnished bathroom on the second floor. I closed and locked the door before turning on the hot water and taking a warm shower. Nothing like a warm shower to calm your nerves and help you think. Once I was done, I wrapped one of the decorative towels around me. (I hoped they didn't mind.)

I pulled back on my dirty clothes and went back downstairs. I had to get out of here, just in case there were people residing here. And I needed to eat anyway, so there was no way I could stay here.

I heard a noise outside and I quickly stopped, staying still and listening with my mind.

_Someone broke into our house! The nerve of those idiots! _

_They scratched up my lock! That was an antique 17__th__ century lock! How _dare_ they!_

_What…I'm hearing my thoughts echo. I'm hearing _everyone's_ thoughts echo. Well, except for Bella's but still! That can't be! Unless…._

I had to get out of there. Now! I turned and raced back up the stairs where I spread my wings and flew at deadly speed through the hall, into a room, and was about to crash through a window when I felt something cold and heavy pin me to the ground.

I screamed and trashed, trying desperately to somehow get away. But it was no use and thrashing only hurt me. Whatever was on me was rock-solid and deadly. When I realized I was trapped and it was over, I began to sob.

The thing above me shifted as I cried, still pinning me down, but trying to make me feel more comfortable. "It's alright. Please, don't cry. Hey, It's okay. Calm down, alright."

Then I felt cool arms pick me up and hold me to close. I heard a soft, soothing voice. The kind that every kid pictures his or her mom to be like. I looked up at the woman with the heart shaped face and the golden eyes. She had a warm smile and she looked down at me with such love and concern that it just made me start crying all over again.

She held me to her and rubbed my back, right between my wings, in soothing circles. She whispered soothing words into my ear and I could hear everyone around me sending me soothing thoughts. I could feel the calm wash over me and I knew that it wasn't me who was calm, but someone else who was calming me down against my will. It made me angry, but I couldn't be angry because all I felt was calm. It engulfed me and, soon, I was fast asleep in the golden-eyed woman's arms.


	2. Confessions

2. Confessions Angel POV

"Max?" I saw the tall, scrawny figure with the light brown hair in the distance. "Max!" I ran to her but she faded away, her eyes filled with hurt and sorrow. She had a fresh bruise on her cheek and a swollen lip. There were bruises on her wrists like she had been restrained.

"Angel, please, you have to help us. You're our only chance. It's… you… pain… hurry… lost…" Then Max faded away and all that was left was a feeling of pain and fear. I felt lost and alone and like there was nothing I could do.

I sat up and screamed, which startled the people around me. I felt cool hands on my chest, trying to get me to lie back down.

I thrashed and screamed, pushing at the hands. "Let me go! Get off me!"

Then the calm washed over me again. I tried to fight it, but it was useless. I opened my eyes and looked at the hands holding me back and I looked dup to see a young girl of about 18 or 19 with blonde hair and golden eyes like the woman from last night.

I didn't say anything. I just looked at her, willing her to let me go. She looked confused and the hands were removed only for new hands to hold me down again. "Please. We don't want to hurt you. We want to help you."

I laughed without humor. "I've heard that before. And it's always the same. They just want to use me!" I practically spat out the last sentence at the man who had spoken. He had blonde hair and pale skin with golden eyes. He sat on the edge of the couch and I saw that he had a bag with doctor supplies in it and then I started thrashing again.

_He was going to experiment on me! Cut me open and see how I tick! They're just like all the rest! _I thrashed and screamed, but not for very long because every time I got worked up, that stupid calm passed over me and I couldn't thrash anymore.

"She thinks you're going to cut her open and see how she ticks. Just like all the others." I looked up to see the boy who spoke. He had bronze colored hair and, like everybody else here, pale skin and golden eyes.

"What others? Cut her open?" The blonde man had a look of disgust, but that could easily have been faked. And I never would have believed it if I couldn't hear his thoughts.

_Who would so such a thing? And to a _child?_ Were they the same people who gave her wings? I wonder if it would upset her if I gave her a checkup, just to be sure that she's healthy. But if she's not a human then regular human checkups don't apply to her, do they?_

I looked at him. "What kind of checkup? Like a 'I'm going to check your vitals' or a 'I'm going to cut you open and see how you tick before slowly and painfully putting you back together'?"

Everyone's mouth dropped, even the bronze haired boy who could read minds. "I would never…how could anyone…just a checkup. A regular 'check your vitals' no cutting involved checkup."

I looked at him and said, "Where is the lady from before? The one with the heart-shaped face?"

"Esme. She's in the kitchen preparing a meal for you. You must be starving."

The thought of food made my mouth water and the additional smell of a delicious home-cooked meal. I didn't trust myself to speak so I just nodded. The woman seemed to genuinely enjoy the cooking and she seemed nice enough so I decided that she wasn't poisoning my food.

I turned back to the blonde man. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

He smiled at me. "I'm sorry, how rude of us. My name is Carlisle. I'm a doctor at the hospital in Forks. " I tensed when he talked about the hospital and doctors. "But don't worry. I won't hurt you or even give you a checkup if you don't want me to."

He motioned to the bronze haired boy. "This is Edward and that is his wife, Bella." He motioned to the girl with the long dark hair. He motioned to the muscles above me and introduced him as Emmett and the blonde to my left he said was Emmett's wife Rosalie. I saw a blonde boy in the corner holding the hand of a short pixie-like girl with short brown hair spiked in every direction. He named them off as Alice and Jasper. The one who had been restraining me after I forced Rosalie to release me he introduces as Renesmee and behind her was a burly dark skinned kid called Jacob.

I looked back at him. "So why are you helping me? Why do you _want_ to help me?"

He smiled at me. "Because you broke into our house, starved and alone. Your clothes were filthy and you needed rest. And because Esme and I couldn't just let you go without knowing that you would be okay."

"What are you? And don't say you're a human because I know better."

He smiled. "Vampires."

You'd think after all these years of people lying and cheating and throwing the scariest, creepiest, most terrible things after us that I would be use to stuff like this. I wasn't and I sure wasn't expecting that.

Esme came in then with more food than even Fang could ever eat. I smiled at her. "Thank you." Then I turned to the food and devoured it as quickly as I could without looking like a total pig.

All the food was so delicious and when I was finished, I was so full I doubted I'd be able to fly anywhere for another couple of hours. The girl named Alice jumped up then. "The package is here!"

She raced up the stairs and back so I fast I wasn't sure I'd actually seen her. She went out and came back a minute later with a large package. "I saw your clothes and I just _had_ to get you some new ones. I mean, they were filthy and there's no way I was going to let you walk around with _those_." She smiled at me as she pulled out a pair of jeans that were just my size. Then she pulled out a pink flannel shirt and white sweater. Then came a black jacket that looked so fluffy and cozy, I was sure Max would kill for it in the wintertime. Next she pulled out a few pairs of really cute socks and then a pair of designer shoes that any super model would kill for.

She smiled at me. "I know you're planning on leaving as soon as you find out where Max is, but I was hoping you would consider staying here until you could find out where she is and if maybe you wanted some help finding her once you knew where she was. If it's a place you need you're welcome to stay here. If it's food or clothes you need, we can surely provide it. If it's assistance you require, I wouldn't hesitate to assist you in any way I can."

I felt my eyes tear up, and I got up. Predicting what I was about to do, she was there in an instant, hugging me to her just as any sister would to her favorite sister. "Alice? What are you talking about? Who is Max?"

"I'm sorry. Carlisle. I don't know myself. I just saw her in my vision. Angel was going to find Max and some other people, but I don't know their names."

"Angel?"

"I guess it's my turn to explain." I walked across the room and turned at an angle where I was facing everyone as a whole. "My name is Angel. When I was in my mother's womb, a gene was implanted into me to make me a human-avian hybrid. My mother sold me and my brother to the chool so they could use me for science. There are five others like me. Max is the oldest and she'd fourteen. Fang is a couple of months younger than her and Iggy is a couple of months younger than Fang. Iggy is blind, but that doesn't disable him in the least. Nudge is eleven and Gazzy, my only blood brother, is eight. I'm six."

I paused to let them take that in before continuing. "Max is the leader of us and has been taking care of us ever since Jeb broke us out of the school over four years ago. The school desperately wants us back and they'll do anything to get us. Unfortunately, so would Itex and a bunch of other institutes across the world. We've had to fight Erasers, which are human-lupine hybrids, and Flyboys, which are just these really terrible and creepy robots. Since then they've sent all kinds of crazy stuff our way and we've just dealt with it and tried to get a normal life."

Now was when I confessed about why I was here. "We had always had to scavenge for food before so I was used to it. And we had taken a break and gone to a concert outdoors somewhere in Seattle. But I'd gotten lost in the crowd and it was my irresponsibility that allowed the Flyboys enough time to catch us. Well, them. I managed to get away, but it started raining and I couldn't figure out where the blue van went. So I went off to find food and then plan my next moves. That's how I ended up here."

I stopped then, tears welling up in my eyes. All this talk about my flock and my irresponsibility was making me depressed.

"It's not your fault Angel." I looked up at the boy named Edward. "You couldn't have known-"

"Of course I knew! I wanted to go and I didn't think of the consequences! I wasn't looking out for myself, but they were and that's what got them caught! Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy were fighting them off while Max and Fang went looking for me! We couldn't fly off in the middle of the crowd so we got trapped! They shot down Nudge and Iggy before they even had a chance! It's my irresponsibility that got them caught in the first place!" I was in a rage and I didn't care about my own preservation anymore. All I wanted was for Max and the rest of the flock to be all right. "And when I saw the Flyboys, I _ran._ I ran away from my problems and when I finally got up the courage to help them, they were gone. All traces of them were _gone._"

I was looking at the ground, feeling utter disappointment in myself, when suddenly I felt a cool hand on my shoulder. "It's not your fault, Angel. You're just a kid. Kids make mistakes."

"But they don't usually endanger their whole family when they do it."

"True, but your not a normal kid. You're special, Angel. God believes in you and that's why he put you here, on this Earth. He trusts you to help the flock, and to look past what you did and look forward towards what you are going to do to get them back. Now, do you want to dwell on the negative, or do you want to save your friends… your family?"

I looked up at Carlisle with tears in my eyes. He was right. There was no use in me feeling sorry for myself. It wouldn't save Max or anyone else. It was time for action.


	3. Injuries

3. Injuries Fang POV

_Max. _That one word was enough to make my heart ache. They had taken her away sometime yesterday and she hadn't come back, and she might not. Nudge had also been taken and I had no idea what had become of either of them.

_If they…if she's…_but I couldn't think it. It couldn't be true. There was no way Max was gone. Max was the pin that held us all together. She was a perfect balance to me, and the perfect leader for our flock. Without her, everything would fall apart.

Would the others listen to me without Max? Do I have what it takes to keep them all safe? It was hard enough with Max around, but without her…

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and I looked up. Two Flyboys walked into the room, each holding one arm of an unconscious Nudge. They opened her cage and tossed her inside. Her head hit the floor with a loud smack and I heard her groan which meant she was alive, at least.

I sighed with relief, but at the same time, my eyes burned with rage at what they had done to her. There was a large purple bruise on her cheek and her white shirt had burn marks from a taser on it.

It had to have been bad to leave a bruise that pronounced. It would take weeks, maybe a month for it to fully go away. Her nose also looked bloody and crooked so it was probably broken. I cringed as she tried to sit up and groaned in pain.

She sat up, and gave me a pained smile, which I returned as best I could, but I knew it wouldn't reach my eyes. Just looking at her face made me see red and wish that I could have five minutes alone with whoever had done this to her.

And where was Max? Had they hurt her as bad as Nudge? Had they sent her away to some other institute_?_ I internally cringed as I imagined the pain she was probably enduring.

And what about Angel? She had gotten away originally, but was she all right? Had they shot her down, like they did Nudge and Iggy? That's another thing. They take Nudge and torture her after having shot her less than twenty-four hours ago?

I heard a low cry and I looked at Nudge. She was holding her side where she had been shot and I could see the fresh blood oozing out. Suddenly, I didn't care about being quiet anymore, or about what they would do to me if I got out. I had to get to Nudge. "Nudge!" I rammed at the cage door, trying desperately to get to her.

She looked at me, fresh tears in her eyes. "Fang. Help me." Then her eyes slowly shut and her body slumped to the bottom of her cage.

"Nudge! NUDGE!!!"

Nudge POV

I wonder where they're taking us. I'm hungry. Maybe we get to eat soon! But Max wouldn't like that. She says we shouldn't eat anything people give us from the school or anywhere else until we know it's not poisoned. Speaking of Max, where did she go?

I turned and looked around, but Max was nowhere to be seen. I looked up into the eyes of yet another mad scientist. "Let's see what she can do, shall we?"

_Man his breath stank! _"Ever hear of a breath mint?"

"Quiet!" He spat at me.

"Say it, don't spray it."

"You insignificant buffoon!" He turned and slapped me in a way that would have left a bruise on any human, but definitely not any of us.

"Who you calling a buffoon? Didn't your mom ever tell you it's not nice to hit a lady?"

"At least I _have _a mother."

I cringed. That one hit home. Neither I nor anyone else in the flock, besides Max and Iggy, had ever met our real parents. It was a soft subject that we tended to avoid.

"What, no smart comment?"

I stayed quiet, which was unusual for me. "I knew your mother. She was an amazing scientist, but when she had you, we just couldn't take the risk of her wanting to be a part of your life. So we eliminated her from the equation." He turned and walked away from me.

I sprang from my seat and kicked him in the back as hard as I could. The sound his spine made as it cracked was rather pleasing, and well worth the pain that followed. Ten Flyboys came at me, each one carrying a taser. I turned to try and fend them off, only for my head to snap back, just as an experiment kicked me square in the jaw.

I felt the sting of each taser on my back before everything went black.

I felt the Flyboys carrying me somewhere, but I didn't know where. Wait, it was probably back to my stupid dog crate. Their hands released me and my head smacked against the floor with a loud smack. Yep, definitely a dog crate.

I groaned and tried to sit up, wincing as I did so. I saw Fang staring at me and I tried to give him a convincing smile, but it didn't work as planned. He smiled back, but he seemed lost in thought.

I started to feel lightheaded and my side felt damp. I could smell the blood and I knew I'd pushed myself too hard and ripped open my bullet wound. Only it was bleeding worse than it had before and tears welled in my eyes from the pain. I cried out as my limbs went numb from loss of blood. I heard Fang call out to me and I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. "Fang. Help me." Then my eyes fluttered shut and I fell into the darkness.


	4. Destination

**4. Destination**

Angel POV

I woke up screaming out all the air in both my lungs and my air sacs. The Cullens came running in to see what was wrong. I curled into a ball and cried and I felt Esme's loving arms wrap around me. She pulled me to her and rubbed soothing circles between my wings, just the way we like.

Finally, when I was calm enough to speak, I told them what I had seen. "Fang, Gazzy, and Iggy were sitting in separate cages, and Nudge and Max were nowhere to be found. I could hear all their thoughts as if I were there. Gazzy was trying to be tough even though deep inside he wished he could talk to me, just to know that I was all right. Iggy was curled into a ball, hiding his face, and wishing that they'd just get it over with. But deep down inside I knew he really just wanted Max to get them out of there like she always does. Fang was lost in thought, thinking about whether or not he could look after the flock if something happened to Max. Then two Flyboys came in carrying an unconscious Nudge. But that wasn't the worst part."

I paused and tried to keep my breathing steady. It was up to me to tell them everything I knew so that we could figure out what was going on and what we were going to do. They'd already agreed to help me and all that we needed now was to figure out what we needed to do and where we needed to go.

"Nudge had a large purple bruise on her cheek, which we can only get when someone hits you really hard. And she had burn marks in her shirt from multiple tasers. They threw her in her cage and she hit her head on the floor, but when she woke up, she got into a sitting position and put on a brave face. It didn't really convince Fang, but he thought she'd be all right. Then he started thinking about… the other night… and then Nudge started feeling lightheaded and I saw all the blood…"

I felt fresh tears well in my eyes and I had to pause to calm my breathing yet again. "She cried out and Fang saw what was going on. He started ramming against the cage and screaming, trying to get to Nudge. She passed out and Fang called for help and screamed for Nudge to wake up. Iggy and Gazzy were trying desperately to get to her, too. But no one came and they couldn't get to her and…"

I calmed my breath and held the tears in long enough for me to finish the story. "…and that was all I saw." Then I burst into to tears, right there, in front of everybody.

In the last few days, I've turned into such a crybaby. But that wasn't going to happen anymore. I had no time for tears. I had to get Max and the rest of my flock out before something else happened like what had happened to Nudge.

I calmed my breath and thought about when Max used to tuck me in at night and we had no worries, but whether or not the cable would be working in the morning. I thought about Total and Akila and about all the fun they were having right now.

And then I let go of Esme and looked at Alice. "Do you have a computer?"

She was back with a top quality laptop before I could say please.

"Thanks, Alice. Now can anyone here hack a website?"

Alice sat next to me and I gave her the computer and allowed her to hack into Fang's blog. Then I posted an important bulletin for all the viewers to read:

"The flock has been taken. By who, I don't know. That's why I need you. They are all in danger and I would appreciate anything any of you can tell me. Fang has been kidnapped, along with Gazzy, Iggy, Nudge, and Max. We came to Seattle to see a show and the Flyboys caught us there. I managed to get away, but when Nudge and Iggy tried to follow, they shot them out of the sky. All around them was chaos as people tried to get away from the Flyboys so I couldn't see much from my hiding place in the tree. But there was a van. It was blue and it had no license plate. There was a cracked window in the back that looked like a 13-legged spider. Now all I need is for anyone of you who has seen this van or may see this van to tell me where it is or where it went. If any of you saw Max or anyone else please contact me immediately and label your message as important. I will check them constantly and please, try not to do anything stupid like trying to save the flock on your own because it will only hurt you and my flock.

Thanks so much.

Love,

Angel "

I posted the bulletin and turned back to the Cullens. "Edward? You can read minds right? Do you think if I showed you a picture of the van in my mind then you could draw it and I could post it on Fang's blog?"

He nodded. "I think I could do that. Or at least give it a basic overview and Alice can draw it."

I nodded. "Is this the only computer you have?"

"No everyone has one." Alice said immediately as she looked at Edward's drawing. "Draw that line darker and thicker."

"Could each of you get your computers and look through the messages to see what people have to say? It would really help me a lot."

They nodded and each one went to their separate places to check through the messages. I looked to see what Alice and Edward were up to and I was surprised to see Alice was already uploading the photo, and it was identical to what I had seen. "Wow. That pictures amazing."

They both smiled at me. "I posted a bulletin with the picture on it and you already have…over six thousand messages. Wow. Fang has a LOT of viewers."

I smiled. "He always did love that blog, and he thought it could solve everyone's problems. And maybe he's partially right. They do tend to solve a lot of problems. And are those all from Washington?"

"There are some from Washington, others from Oregon, and even more from California. Southern California, it seems is the most common."

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped. Oh, no. Not there. I closed my mouth and tried to swallow. "Angel? Angel do you know where they are?" I looked at Edward and nodded.

"I think they took them back to the school. The place I saw…the cages…they were all the same ones from back at the school."

Alice nodded. "Let's go. We should be able to get there in a couple of days if we drive fast enough. We'll use Carlisle's car, since we'll need the dark tint in the south. And we can use Bella's car too, if Edward doesn't mind."

He nodded. "That's fine. We'll leave as soon as we get Angel something to eat. Though all she wants is to save her family, that doesn't deny the fact that she needs to eat, and with her metabolism, it's a wonder she'd gone this long without eating already."

I blushed. He was right. I had been neglecting my hunger this whole time, but I wasn't going to be any help if I starved myself the whole way there. I needed to eat and be strong so when the fight started, I would be able to hold my own and not have to rely on the Cullens or my flock to look after me any longer. I was going to show everyone that I was the strongest and smartest six-year-old around.

"Esme's down stairs now, preparing a meal for you. It should be ready in an hour, and by then we should have everything ready to go and we can head out as soon as you're finished eating."

I nodded. "Thank you. All of you, for all that you're doing for me. You have no idea how much it means to me that you took me in even after I broke into your house and tried to steal your food. Even after you saw my wings and what a freak I was, you still accepted me and promised to help me. It means so much more to me than anyone else would ever truly understand. Thank you, all of you, for everything. Thank you, Carlisle and Esme, for being the parents that I've never had and likely never will have. But I can't allow you guys to be in danger. I won't let you endanger yourselves or your way of life just to help me get my family back. You've shown me so much kindness and I'll never forget the love you've shown me. But I have to save my family and I won't endanger another family, even if they are vampires."

And with that small sentiment (and my complete stupidity in wanting to go into this alone even though I didn't even _consider_ all the guns and robots and mad scientists that were going to be running around as I tried to save my flock) I flew into the sky and towards the dreaded school that I had tried to avoid all my life and that had been my person hell on earth since the day I was born. Thank God, Max wasn't around to hear me say that.


End file.
